Inmates whip up meals and job skills

UTAH STATE PRISON — Clinton Ellis used to cook meth. Now he can create some of the most delicious cuisine you will ever put in your mouth.

"I love it," he said. "You're in here, you're doing time, and for that minute — it's gone. You're not here. You're outside. You've got a regular job. You're doing what you're supposed to do."

Ellis was the sous chef in charge of the kitchen as inmates prepared a holiday feast on Saturday night for nearly 100 corrections staffers and volunteers at the prison's Promontory facility. The inmates are part of Salt Lake Community College's culinary arts program working toward an associate's degree and training as a chef.

For the second year in a row, the inmates prepared a Christmas dinner to showcase their skills.

"When you taste it, you're like — wow!" Brent Kane said of some of the dishes he's made.

The menu was like something you'd find in a high-end restaurant. Canapes, stuffed figs, a pomelo mint sorbet to cleanse the palate before the entree — a Chicken Oscar, Yukon Gold Potato Terrine and snow peas in a garlic butter sauce.

In a corner of the kitchen, Daniel Raynes was putting the finishing touches on dessert: a Gateau St. Honore (a puff pastry made from eclair paste filled with a vanilla custard, dipped in hardened caramel, filled with chocolate and topped with both white and chocolate whipped creams).

"The first time we made one it took us three days," Raynes said. "It's named after St. Honore, the patron saint of pastry chefs."

The program has been a hit since it was first offered to male inmates in the ConQuest program last year. The number of inmates taking classes has increased to 44 this year. They learn about nutrition, business, budgeting and customer service. The inmates must pay tuition and attend classes, in addition to regular schooling and treatment programs offered at the prison.

"We're not just raising bread, we're raising gentlemen," said chef Jackie Pappas, who teaches the class. "They're held to a standard of professionalism."

The program offers the inmates new opportunities once they get out.

"They can instantly get a job. There's always going to be need for cooks," said prison warden Steven Turley, who RSVP'd for dinner.

But the inmates are also acutely aware that in these lean economic times, their classes could wind up on the budget chopping block.